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by James M. Van VerthMusings on older board games, computer games, and RPGs.
Recent podcasts
The Vintage Gamer #31: Nuclear War
28/08/2007
Back from the abyss with an actual game review show. This time I talk about the darkly humorous game Nuclear War, designed by Doug Malewicki and published by Flying Buffalo, Inc. I also cover what's been happening with me over the past few months, discuss some recent gaming news (vintage and otherwise), and talk about possibilities for future shows. Show Notes: New job Origins report Congrats to ENnie Winners Have Games, Will Travel and Yog Radio Cosmic Encounter, Dune and Borderlands to be reprinted Boardgame Podcasters Awards: Gateway Game, New Publisher, Innovative Concept, Small Publisher, Game of the Year Dragon*Con: Gaming podcast panel on Sept 1, 2:30pm Listen to Geeklabel Radio! History of Nuclear War Rules Expansions: Nuclear Escalation, Nuclear Proliferation, Weapons of Mass Destruction Listen to Heaven - Season Three: Earth! Future plans Closing Links: Nuclear War BGG entry Nuclear Escalation Nuclear Proliferation Weapons of Mass Destruction Flying Buffalo's Nuclear War page Doug Malewicki's web page Nuclear War at Game Table Online Final thoughts: Yeah, yeah, Dune is not an Eon game, but it might as well be.
TVG Special #2: Origins 2007 Board Game Podcasters Q&A
15/07/2007
It being the second year in a row, I now present the traditional recording of the gaming podcasters panel. The panel this year was organized by Scott Nicholson, and featured board game podcasters. Sorry about the delay on this -- I used two recorders to get full coverage of the panel so there was some post-production involved. The panelists were, left to right: Scott Nicholson (Board Games with Scott and On Board Games) David Coleson and Stephen Conway (The Spiel) Yours truly Tom Vasel and Sam Healey (The Dice Tower) Mark Haberman and Jay Little (The Metagamers) Plus special guests: Don Dehm (Pulp Gamer) Mur Lafferty (too many podcasts) Chris Miller and K.J. (The House of the Harping Monkey) J.J. Victor (Fistful of Comics Games) Paul Tevis (Have Games, Will Travel) The Vicar and the Kingfish (Geeklabel Radio) oh, and Joe Steadman Many thanks to Scott Nicholson for organizing this -- it was a great panel of people.
The Vintage Gamer #30: Interview with Eric Goldberg
24/05/2007
After an even longer hiatus, I'm back -- at least for the moment. This week I have an interview from GDC 2007 with another gaming luminary, Eric Goldberg of Crossover Technologies. We talked for forty-five minutes about his history in the gaming industry -- covering wargames, tabletop RPGs, boardgames and briefly about his later work in online and mobile games. Show Notes: Apologies for long hiatus News about reprints and rereleases, especially Cosmic Encounter and Titan Get yourself a Geeklabel T-shirt! Interview with Eric Goldberg Listen to Midnight's Lair! What's up with me Closing Links: Junta (board game) Highway to the Reich (wargame) War of the Ring (wargame) Descent on Crete (wargame) John Carter: Warlord of Mars (?) Swords Sorcery (wargame) Commando (wargame) DragonQuest (RPG) Imperium Romanum (wargame) Campaigns of Napoleon (wargame) The Compleat Enchanter (reference to book) Paranoia (RPG) Mongoose's Paranoia Page Star Wars RPG Tales of the Arabian Nights (board game) Air Cav (wargame) Crossover Technologies (from 3D Gamers site) MadMaze Tom Peter's Business School in a Box Article on Unplugged Games Final thoughts: Another big thank you to Eric Goldberg for agreeing to sit down for this interview. He's a very busy guy and I appreciate all the time he was willing to give me.
The Vintage Gamer #29: Interview with Greg Costikyan
19/03/2007
After a long hiatus, I'm back. This week I have an interview from GDC 2007 with gaming luminary Greg Costikyan of Manifesto Games. We talked for half an hour about his history in the gaming industry -- covering wargames, tabletop RPGs, and his later work in online and independent digital games. Show Notes: Apologies for long hiatus Now a member of the Gaming Podcast Network! Politika games have finally shipped Game Developer's Conference update and upcoming interviews Listen to Groovy Gamers Groovecast! Interview with Greg Costikyan Attend the UK Games Expo! Feedback Closing Links: Supercharge (wargame) Swords Sorcery (wargame) The Creature That Ate Sheboygan (wargame) SPI Died For Your Sins (article) Bug-Eyed Monsters (wargame) Toon (RPG) Paranoia (RPG) Mongoose's Paranoia Page Star Wars RPG The Willow Game (board game) Crossover Technologies (from 3D Gamers site) MadMaze Article on Unplugged Games Violence: the roleplaying game of egregious and repulsive bloodshed Gaming Needs an Indy Label (originally published in Game Developer) The Scratchware Manifesto GDC 2005 Rant GDC 2007 Maverick Award acceptance speech Final thoughts: A big thank you to Greg Costikyan for agreeing to sit down for this interview. He's a very busy guy and I appreciate all the time he was willing to give me.
The Vintage Gamer #28: Tales of the Arabian Nights
31/01/2007
Back to board games with this episode, where I do double-coverage by talking about both another paragraph-based game and another Eric Goldberg game. The game is Tales of the Arabian Nights, originally published by West End Games in 1985 and republished and revised by Edition Erlkönig in 1999. In this one, you and the other players take on roles from the Tales of Scheherazade and have adventures around Baghdad and the surrounding barbarian lands, only to return home with great stories, to meet your destiny, or even to become Sultan. Show Notes: Sorry about the delay, more sick Website updates Appearance on Escape Pod Listen to The Geeklabel Podcast! History of Tales of the Arabian Nights Description of Standard game Hey, look, it's Reiner Knizia! Description of Storytelling game Description of Adventure game Description of Solitaire game Wrap-up on Tales of the Arabian Nights Listen to Random Signal! Fool's Errand and leftover Sherlock Holmes feedback Closing Links: BGG entry A nice review at Spotlight on Games Means of gender transformation in the first edition Info on the second edition from Kevin J. Maroney Final thoughts: I've switched to using Garageband to do my sound recording and editing simply because Audacity isn't terribly stable on the Mac. I think it sounds pretty good, but let me know if you notice any quirks -- I'm still getting used to it.
